Turf Wars: A`s Fantastic On Plastic

The Cincinnati Reds play most of their games on artificial turf. The Oakland Athletics play most of theirs on grass.

But don`t think the underdog Reds will have an advantage when the World Series opens Tuesday night in carpeted Riverfront Stadium.

``It`s a funny game on turf,`` said A`s manager Tony LaRussa, reared on the grass fields common in the American League. ``But we`re not going to sit out the World Series because they are playing it on turf. We`ll go there and play on it. (But) it makes it a different game.``

Not that different, unfortunately for Cincinnati. Baseball`s best team went 16-9 on turf, a .640 winning percentage-5 percentage points up from its overall winning per-centage.

The Reds, meanwhile, went 23-25 on grass surfaces, a .479 success rate that was far below the club`s overall .562 winning percentage.

So much for home-field advantage.

The A`s hit far better in 1990 as a team on turf (.268) than they did overall (.254). Their pitchers allowed more earned runs on plastic (a 4.27 earned-run average) than they did overall (3.18), but during the regular season that was nearly offset by increased offense (5.2 runs per game on turf vs. 4.5 on grass).

So the A`s weren`t exactly filled with fear and loathing as they journeyed to the Ohio River Valley Sunday evening. Quite the opposite.

Oakland Coliseum is just slightly smaller than the Grand Canyon in the minds of home run hitters, and Riverfront appears the same to the untrained eye. Players know the truth: The ball leaps out of Riverfront when the wind and temperature are right.

``Compared to the Oakland Coliseum on a normal night, the ball carries very well (in Riverfront),`` A`s catcher Terry Steinbach said. ``It carries better than it does at the Coliseum. Playing 81 games (in Oakland) and going there, it will be a good park to hit in.

``Turf is always better to hit on than grass. I think it has a very good background for a batter`s eye. So you see the ball very well.``

What does Steinbach know? Plenty. For him, the faceless ballpark on the Ohio River is a real-life field of dreams.

It was there, in the 1988 All-Star Game, that Steinbach went from nobody to celebrity with one mighty cut at a Dwight Gooden delivery. Criticized for being voted the starting catcher with a .217 batting average, Steinbach homered and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly to earn MVP honors in the American League`s victory.

Steinbach hit 20 points lower on turf this year-.234 to .254-but most of his teammates hit for higher averages on plastic. Turf favors hitters because it doesn`t slow grounders the way grass does, and balls hit into the alleys usually go all the way to the fences instead of dying in front of the outfielders.

Some hitters fell off-Harold Baines went from .273 on grass to .235 on turf. But for the most part, the A`s like to hit on turf.

Their pitchers don`t like to pitch on it, but that`s a universal sentiment. Bob Welch`s ERA was a beefy 4.64 on turf, where he was only 5-2; on grass he had a 2.72 ERA and went 22-4.

Mike Moore also fell off dramatically-7.80 ERA on turf, 4.39 on grass-but aces Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley were pretty much their usual selves.

The pitchers will be backed up by a defense that`s better suited for turf thanks to the addition of center-fielder Willie McGee. The A`s needed a center-fielder when Dave Henderson hurt his knee in Comiskey Park in August.

Maybe they would have picked up McGee even if they hadn`t figured on a turf Series. But at the time it looked as if the A`s might have to face Toronto in the AL playoffs at the SkyDome, which is carpeted. It made sense to go with McGee, who patrolled Busch Stadium`s wide-open plastic spaces for nine years.

So if Cincinnati is looking for an edge, it had better look elsewhere. These A`s tend to look at a change in playing surfaces as just another bother on their way to a second straight world title. Does it sound as if Willie Randolph is worried?

``I played last year on turf a lot, and if you get used to it, your legs adjust to it,`` he said. ``Just stretch out as much as you can, and make sure your spikes are a little bit lower so you don`t slip on them.``